The Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) provides a limited number of medical students with an opportunity to pursue a training program designed to equip them for careers in academic investigative medicine. Individualization of the curricular and research programs of each trainee is the hallmark of the Program. The flexible curriculum at Stanford Medical School allows each student to pursue (in consultation with her/his preceptor and other advisors) a plan of study that will satisfy the requirements for the MD degree and allow performance of doctoral level research leading to the PhD degree. Each trainee pursues an independent research program under the immediate direction of a faculty preceptor and the general supervision of an advisory committee. Additional activities include a seminar program, annual research retreat and non-medical school graduate courses. The individual and organized activities provide the trainees with fundamental biological knowledge and techniques, and serve to focus their attention toward the application of this knowledge to biomedical problems. The training received over the estimated six years of participation in the Program, followed by 1-2 years of postdoctoral training, will prepare the recipients for investigative careers in medicine. Trainees consist of those medical students, selected by the Admissions Committees of the School of Medicine and the MSTP, who are highly motivated for careers in medical science, and who are committed to in- depth training in knowledge of and experimental approaches to medical problems. They generally have extensive undergraduate training in the biological and physical sciences and represent a highly selected and gifted group of potential scientists. Eight to ten trainees per year will be admitted, reaching a steady-state level of 50 in the fifth year of this project period.